The basic principles of electrostatographic printing with dry marking material (hereinafter generally referred to as xerography) are well known: an electrostatic latent image is created on a charge-retentive surface, such as a photoreceptor or other charge receptor, and the latent image is developed by exposing it to a supply of toner particles, which are attracted as needed to appropriately-charged areas of the latent image. The toner particles are then transferred in imagewise fashion from the photoreceptor to a print sheet, the print sheet being subsequently heated to permanently fuse the toner particles thereto to form a durable image.
Following the transfer of the image from the photoreceptor to the print sheet, residual toner particles remaining on the photoreceptor are removed by any number of known means, such as including a cleaning blade, brush, and/or vacuum. In a typical embodiment, the removed toner is then accumulated in a hopper, and then the accumulated waste toner is directed, typically by means of an auger, into a waste container.
The present embodiment relates to aspects of a module which is readily removable and insertable in a xerographic printing apparatus, such as a “laser” printer or copier.